Thanks - Community Spirit Magazine

FR
EE
CHURCH & THE HOMELESS • HOLIDAY PREPARATIONS
NOVEMBER 2006
®
Giving
Thanks
2
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
3
8
11
Feature: The Homeless
8
He was Homeless?
39
44
Loving Home
32 How to be a Gracious Houseguest
11 John 3:16 Backyard Missions
36 10 Mistakes Hanging Lights
13 The Homeless and the Church
37 Adaptive Accessorizing
39 Internet & Real Estate
Entertainment
15 The Music of Ray Charles at PAC
Senior Class
16 Restaurants Open Thanksgiving
42 A Sunday Drive to Memories
17 Holiday Events
20 “The Living Christmas Tree”
26 FCA Athlete of the Month
22 New Show on Spirit 102.3
28 Four Generations of Newcombs
From the Pulpit
44 Protecting our Children at Church
24 Monsignor Patrick Gaalaas
46 Charitable Pension Protection Act
Community Spirit is published monthly by McCloud Media.
PUBLISHER Tom McCloud
MANAGING EDITOR Tara Lynn Thompson
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Nicole McMahan
TULSA SALES OFFICE
KWHB TV-47 Office Building
8835 S. Memorial, Tulsa, OK 74133
phone: (918) 307-2323 fax: (918) 307-1221
PHOTOGRAPHER Don Kreutzweiser
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Randy C. Cowell, James Tate, Larry White,
Anna D. Wright and Catherine Zoller
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Bill Ackerman, Paul Aelmore, Edie Phillips,
Stephanie Reall and Don Sands
4
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
FEATURE: They stand on
street corners holding signs.
They huddle under overpasses to sleep. They are homeless, in danger, and in need.
Who are the homeless population in Tulsa? What do they
need? And is the church willing and able to provide it?
DISTRIBUTION
Community Spirit is distributed to churches, schools,
restaurants, Christian bookstores, and other businesses.
Call us today to deliver to your church.
Claims by advertisers and the opinions of writers within
this publication do not necessarily represent
the views of Community Spirit or its publisher,
Equipment Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 2006 by Equipment Publications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without written
permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.
www.mccloudmedia.com
www.communityspiritmagazine.com
The perfect
christmas idea!
In commemoration of
Oklahoma’s Centennial,
your friends at Community
Spirit Magazine have
introduced a beautiful
coffee table book about the
first 100 years of Tulsa’s
incredible Christian heritage.
Now this isn’t some stuffy
history book. We promise
your special someone is going
to love it from start to finish.
Haven’t you ever wondered
why Tulsa is such a strong
Christian community?
This book not only shares the
interesting story, its beautiful
photography, its testimonials
from many of Tulsa’s most
respected Christians, and its
articles about individual
churches make it as entertaining as it is enlightening.
The book is called “Journey: Tulsa’s Century of Christian Faith, Leadership and Influence.” You will find it at your local church bookstore or at Steve’s Sundry, Borders
Books, Cokesbury Books, The Perfect Touch Gift Shop, or Mathis Brothers Furniture.
Or if you would like…you can order it online at www.communityspiritmagazine.com.
Buy a copy of “Journey” for everyone on your list.
They’re gonna love it!
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NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
7
He WAs
HomE
less?
Mathis
Brothers
general
manager
tells of life
on the
street and
the grace
that
brought
him back.
TA R A LY N N T H O M P S O N
Brad Woessner left Tulsa without a dime, broken and defeated. He was just a faceless man on the
streets, sleeping under bridges. An addict. A lost cause.
Homeless.
He returned a decade later driving a luxury vehicle,
headed to his new management job, a man of wealth—
both financially and spiritually.
“It took a lot of time to disintegrate, but once I made
the decision that Jesus is the Savior of my life, once I
decided to glorify Him, He restored that life quickly,”
said Brad, general manager for Mathis Brothers Furniture. He works around beautiful things. Everyday he
8
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
walks into a cathedral store of Maitland Smith torch
lamps, Ralph Lauren mirrors, Bernhardt Van Gogh sectionals, and Henredon entertainment centers.
But there was a time, not that long ago, when Brad
only knew the cold concrete beds, the death-wish of the
streets, the hunger for his next high.
“For three years I spent time sleeping on relatives’ sofas
and under bridges close to downtown,” he said.
Success had come early in his life. He graduated from
Broken Arrow High School in 1980. By 1981, he had
saved $10,000 working at Safeway.
“For a 19-year-old in ’81, that’s good money,” Brad said.
feature
Brad Woessmer,
fiance’ Randi and
his children,
Alysha, Thomas
and Charli.
Photo Credit:
Rachel Williams,
Photographic Designs.
Within three years he was an outside sales
representative, owned a company car and a
home in Broken Arrow.
“That’s when all the problems started to
come. Drinking and drugs were demands I started to face and you never stop facing them.”
Soon he was evicted from his house, lost his
job, but still had addictions. He was only 24
and already on his way to a life of homelessness. From then on, for three years, he spiraled
down, living mostly wherever the wind and the
next high took him. It often left him lost, wondering the streets, unknown by his mother
whether he was still alive.
“My deal was all self-imposed through drinking and doing drugs,” Brad said. “I came from a
blue collar/white collar family in the 80’s. It
wasn’t as common as it is now. They didn’t
know what to do.”
Turning your life around once you reach this
point seems nearly impossible. He had become
desensitized to the danger, complacent about what most
fear. Instead, he worried about ever reversing this chain
of events.
“I wasn’t fearful of all the physical elements of life.
But the biggest thing that gave me anxiety, kept me from
sleeping, I would think to myself, ‘I’ve got to get a job.’
But you can’t get a job without a driver’s license. Then
you have to get to and from work. It’s like there’s no
hope. There’s no way out,” he said.
One morning, sleeping somewhere outside (he doesn’t
remember where), Brad woke up with a song in his
head. It had been years, a previous life, since his modest
Catholic upbringing and the sounds of those days. But
he heard a song anyway, clearly and with distinction,
“Walls of Glass” by Russ Taff, which revived his memories of a better time.
“In my absolute lowest point in life, I woke up with
that song in my head.” That’s when hope began to
revive.
Brad’s little brother came looking for him. He was
delivering a message: An old friend of Brad’s had a job
with Mathis Brothers in Oklahoma City. Find Brad. Get
him there. He might be able to get Brad work.
“My family put me on a bus and gladly sent me to
Oklahoma City,” Brad said.
He worked for two years as a bartender and waiting
tables until a position opened at the store. In 1989, Brad
started work with Mathis Brothers, moving from the
floor to sales manager to eventually being offered the
position as general manager for the store in Tulsa.
“I left Tulsa in a bus and rode back to Tulsa in a
$65,000 company vehicle,” Brad said. “God has taken
care of me. I give Him all the credit.”
The lessons he learned were not easy, not enjoyable,
but he wouldn’t trade them now, as he faces each day
with his fiancé Randi Adams, and his three children
Alysha, Thomas, and Charli.
“I wouldn’t change a lot about what I went though
because a lot of what I went through gave me tenacity,
faith in God, and calmness.”
NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
9
They are called Urban Angels. And their mis-
Urban Angels remodeled the Happy Hands center.
Photo Credit: Rachel Williams, Photographic Designs.
sion is simple—to help those less fortunate.
Brad Woessner, general manager of Mathis Brothers
Furniture in Tulsa, co-founded the group along with his
fiancé Randi Adams.
The idea started last Christmas. Brad and Randi had
adopted a child from an Angel Tree for each of Brad’s
children, a lesson in giving. When they read the requests
by the children, they included things like shirts, sweatshirts, socks, and clothes for their siblings.
“My kids were saying, ‘They weren’t asking for any
toys.’ I realized they didn’t understand there were others
less fortunate,” Brad said. “We realized we needed to do
something with this money.”
It was during the same season, Brad said he and his
family ran into a few women at Target, pushing around
$7,000 in clothes. They worked for an oil and gas company that had adopted an orphanage for the holiday. The
idea of Urban Angels came.
“We decided we should think of ways to help other
people and help the community instead of just giving
more to ourselves,” he said.
With less than a year in service, the group—comprised
of volunteers from Mathis Brothers and their families—
have remodeled a shelter in Sapulpa, Happy Hands, the
Creek County Youth Shelter, and others.
Currently, they are in the midst of a fundraiser for
Urban Angels. Brad and Randi have promised to match
every dollar employees donate for the next 12 months.
“Whatever they give, we’ll match,” he said.
It’s the old adage of giving and Urban Angels is an
active, energetic outlet in making that adage happen.
“If you actually give and give into people’s lives, you
are tremendously blessed,” he said.
We invite you to join Brad and the Urban Angels in
making a difference in our community. Come to Mathis
Brothers during the month of November and purchase
Community Spirit’s exciting new coffee table book,
“Journey: Tulsa’s Century of Christian Faith, Leadership
and Influence.” The book sells for $50 and half of all proceeds go to support the Urban Angels.
10
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
The Homeless
John 3:16
BAckyArD Missions
It costs just $1.84 to feed a hungry person.
TA R A LY N N T H O M P S O N
The clunk, clunk of the traffic
overhead kept rhythm, echoing
like paired groans under the
overpass. Trash dotted the ground
like chunks of snow. And under the
highway, placed into the small
crevices, were crude beds.
This was someone’s home, someone’s place of rest.
“It looks like there’s about nine
sleeping here right now,” said Steve
Whitaker, director of John 3:16
Mission in Tulsa.
He had taken our photographer
and me to this outdoor provisional,
giving us a glimpse of the homeless
reality. It wasn’t glamorous. It was
desperation. This was the life of
another human, living under this
highway, sleeping to the repetitious
drumming of passing vehicles. I had
driven this highway before, hundreds of times actually, one of those
vehicles breezing by without even a
thought or visual glimpse of the
existence below. Then I went home
and slept in my warm, safe bed.
I glanced up to see a stuffed
teddy bear neatly placed on a rafter,
above a well-kept bed of scrap
sheets and a fastidiously arranged
quilt of bright reds, pinks, and
blues—an obnoxious reminder of
niceties in the midst of desolation.
“Tonight, people will go to sleep,
anywhere they can find a hole, with
no food in their stomach,” Whitaker said. “That is unconscionable to
me to let that happen in the City of
Tulsa.”
There are approximately 3,000
homeless in this community,
patrons of the street due to personal circumstances, mental illness,
and “an addictive nature,” he said.
And the addictions can change.
“They may be an alcoholic, get that
under control, and flip to something harder.”
The growing presence of casinos
has also developed a growing
homeless population, accounting
for approximately 10 to 12 percent,
he said.
“It’s disturbing because we have
people homeless because of that
(gambling) issue,” Whitaker said.
“Gambling is an addiction and it
progresses like any other addiction.
It progresses and progresses until it
becomes an obsession.”
Getting someone to stop gambling is only a temporary fix. You
must reach people on the “soul
level,” Whitaker said.
“We can give them a place to
stay, clean them up, teach them new
behavior. But unless we address
what’s going on in the heart of a
The Homeless
For more information on the John
3:16 Mission or to
learn how to
donate, visit
www.j316m.com.
person, unless they find their
way to a Savior that loves
them…they will never be free
from addiction,” he said.
Many homeless who are seeking refuge and help are not
given help because current regulations and laws keep the Mission from growing to meet the
need.
“We still turn people out of
John 3:16. We still turn them
out into the dark. That is not a
good feeling at all,” he said.
Current sex offender laws
have created severe problems
for missions trying to reach anyone with an arrest record, like
non-violent sex offenders—
those arrested for public indecency who have never harmed
anyone.
“They are very restrictive
laws, really draconian laws,” he
said. “The law makes it nearly
impossible to create new homes
for anyone who has ever been
an inmate, making it nearly
impossible for John 3:16 to
expand.”
Homelessness is not restricted
to the male gender. Whitaker
said 24 months ago he wouldn’t
have said there was a “hardcore
homeless population of
women.” Today he cannot say
the same. And they are displaced, a demographic underserved.
“I’ve had women grab my
arm and say, ‘I don’t have a
place to stay tonight. Where do
I stay?’ Unless you are doing
something, no one has a right to
sit at home and feel like everything is all right with the
world,” Whitaker said.
There is a need. And there is
hope, he said. Focusing on what
he calls, “Community Redevel-
opment,” can reverse the rising
numbers of homeless.
“Community Redevelopment
is reweaving the fabric of that
community from the inside
out,” Whitaker said. And with
approximately 2,000 churches
in this community, their
involvement could reverse the
despair.
“Surely there are enough
assets here to take care of the
homeless, to neighbor them, to
become a real community,”
Whitaker said. “The American
Dream is that we will have it
all. But the truth is, tonight a lot
of people in Tulsa won’t only
not have it all, they’ll only have
the clothes on their back.
“If you want to be a missionary, stop going to China unless
God tells you directly. There is a
mission field right here.”
If you want to be a missionary, stop going to China…
There is A mission
fielD right here.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU MEET A
HOMELESS PERSON
What do you do when you see someone holding a sign that says: “Will Work
for Food” or someone asks you for spare
change? Most people look away, but not
necessarily because they lack compassion. Many believe that panhandlers are
dangerous or will rip them off. The truth
is few homeless people are violent or
criminal. Some people are overwhelmed
by sadness, guilt, denial, revulsion or
anger. It’s difficult to come face to face
with such profound suffering and not
have a strong reaction. Others simply
don't know how to help.
12
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
John 3:16 Recommends the Following:
Don’t give cash. Too often this money
goes toward drugs or alcohol. If a homeless person is hungry, offer to buy him
(or her) a sandwich and a cup of coffee.
Be respectful. By taking the time to be
friendly, you help homeless people combat the sense they have that they're
invisible or disposable. Recognize that
homeless people are not all alike. Homeless people are a diverse group that
includes children, battered women, veterans and the mentally ill. Share God's
love. If Jesus were here today, he would
reach out to homeless people. Those
who believe in and follow Him should do
the same. Pray. Malnutrition, exposure to
the elements, street violence, a lack of
medical care and hopelessness take their
toll on homeless people and they can
use your prayers. Be safe. Trust your
instincts and don’t take chances. Point
the way to the John 3:16 Mission. The
John 3:16 Mission provides emergency
food at the Family & Youth Center located at 2027 N. Cincinnati and shelter for
the homeless as well as a long-term
rehabilitation program at 506 N.
Cheyenne. Support the John 3:16 Mission.
—Excerpted from John 3:16 Mission,
www.j316m.com
The
Homeless
Are they the church’s responsibility?
TA R A LY N N T H O M P S O N
Rick was grabbing a 2-wheeler
inside the Cornerstone Assistance Network’s warehouse,
working on donated appliances and a
refrigerator giving him fits. His beard and
somewhat longer hair gave him a divine
appearance, the look of a man wanting to
look like Jesus. His striped shirt wasn’t a
robe and his tennis shoes weren’t sandals,
but his life was a living example of a man
saved by the only Savior.
For a year and a half, Rick said he lived
on the streets of Oklahoma City, eventually waking up in a hospital after a brutal
beating over a beer. That’s where his
brother Dewayne found him, bringing
him to Tulsa and to the Work Opportunity Center at Cornerstone.
“A church’s responsibility is to make
disciples. They rarely look at the homeless
as possible disciples,” said Chris Beach,
President of the Board of Trustees, Tulsa
Cornerstone Assistance Network.
Cornerstone educates and equips
churches and ministries to transform lives
from “poverty to purpose.” Their mission
is to get churches involved in the homeless
population, a mission with staggering success. Since its formation in 1996, Cornerstone has helped 340 churches and
110,000 lives in Tulsa County. Rick and
his brother Dewayne were two of them.
There are a growing number of churches getting involved in this human grassroots work. However, there are also many
churches keeping a safe distance between
themselves and the homeless in Tulsa.
“Every time I hear a church struggling
for membership, I think of the homeless.
I believe the church
is out of God’s
will if they are not
serving the poor.
Chris Beach,
President,
Tulsa Cornerstone
Assistance Network
The Homeless
For more
information on
Cornerstone Assistance Network, visit
www.tulsacan.org.
Makeshift housing
under an overpass
in Tulsa.
Many are saved but have never
been discipled. They would go to
church if they felt the church
wanted them there,” Beach said.
Instead, some ministries have
turned a blind eye to the homeless
problem in Tulsa,
“You have no clue what people
really live like. I hear some
churches say, ‘They just need to
pull themselves up by the boot
straps.’ I tell them, ‘But some
don’t even have boots,’” Beach
said. “They see the homeless as a
burden. They see the person as
how they are versus how they use
to be or how they could be.”
homeless already realize that following their own ideas have gotten them nowhere. When a person
is educated, it helps to mask their
lostness in life.”
When churches begin mentoring
the poor in the work center, Beach
said it doesn’t take three months
before the person “is deeper than
many church members.” Participants in the work center go to
church every Sunday morning and
Wednesday night, go through
prayer and bible study everyday at
Cornerstone, attend Celebrate
Recovery, go through a 10-week
Alpha Course, and attend retreats
to go deeper and deeper.”
Those that have lost it all, gone
to the core existence of a human,
they are the ones hungry and anxious for a Savior and the ones
eager to give everything in pursuit
of His will.
“I believe a church is out of
God’s will if they are not serving
the poor,” Beach said. “When a
homeless person gives their life to
Christ, they give everything to
Christ. They learn to trust God
for everything. I think that’s why
Jesus went to the poor first.”
Will churches take on this
responsibility? Beach said yes. In
Rick came to Cornerstone without anything. He is now one of
nine workers in their Work
Opportunity Center, repairing
donated appliances for use by others in poverty like he use to be,
and working to obtain his electrician’s license.
“It is easier to disciple the
homeless than to disciple an average person,” Beach said. “The
throughout the year like the Walk
to Emmaus.
“The churches we work with
know God calls them to serve the
poor. They just don’t know how,”
Beach said. “If I suggest serving
the homeless or ex-felons, it is a
little too deep for the church right
away…They are comfortable
doing things at Thanksgiving and
Christmas. We slowly help them
fact, the number of churches
wanting to educate themselves on
helping the indigent are growing.
“I’m amazed to see how many
churches are now starting to take
the steps to go deeper in transforming the lives of the poor,” he
said. “It’s increasingly more and
more churches wanting to do
this.”
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R.C. (Randy) Cowell, M.S., LUTCF, CFP, CSA
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5550 South Lewis Avenue, Ste. 101 Tulsa, OK
[email protected]
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Financial Planning with a Personal Touch
(918) 664-0081
www.ACTFinancialServices.com
Jeanie Staub, MS, LPC
14
Charter Member
American Association of Christian Counselors
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
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entertainment
I Can’t Stop LovingYou
The Music of Ray Charles
Direct from London’s West End and a sold out
European Tour, “I Can’t Stop Loving You: The
Music of Ray Charles,” will make its Tulsa premiere at
the Tulsa Performing Arts Center for eight performances,
November 14-19. Presented by Celebrity Attractions and welcomed by ONEOK, “I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Music of
Ray Charles” is directed and choreographed by Gary Lloyd,
creator of the successful production in the United Kingdom.
Tickets go on sale October 20.
Featuring a live on-stage orchestra, stunning dancers and six
amazing singers, “I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Music of Ray
Charles” takes audiences on a musical review of Ray Charles’
life and music. This non-stop celebration embraces the diversity of Ray Charles’ musical genres. From rhythm and blues to
gospel and country, from soul to rock and roll, from jazz to big
band, Ray Charles’s music has influenced generations of artists
and styles throughout his 50-year career.
“I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Music of Ray Charles” delivers hit after hit of the music that Ray Charles made famous
including “Georgia On My Mind,” “Hit The Road Jack,”
“You Don’t Know Me,” “Shake A Tail Feather,” “What’d I
Say,” “Bye Bye Love” and many more timeless classics.
Known as “Brother Ray” or simply “The Genius,” Ray
Charles was one of the greatest musical legends of the 20th
century. Born in 1930 in Albany, Georgia, and blind by the age
of seven, Ray Charles started his recording career in the late
1940’s. He soon began his mixture and experimentation within
musical genres winning him 17 Grammy® Awards over his
lifetime.
In 2004, Ray Charles’ life story was chronicled in the award-
winning film “Ray” starring Jamie Foxx. The biography of his
life,“Brother Ray,” has become an international best seller. Ray
Charles’ best selling album to date, “Genius Loves Company,”
was released in 2005, one year after his death. ‘The Genius’
may be gone, but his music lives on in our hearts and minds.
“I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Music of Ray Charles,” welcomed by ONEOK, will be at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center November 14-19, for only eight performances. Tickets go
on sale Friday, October 20. Tickets may be purchased via
phone 596-7111, (800)364-7111, in person at the Tulsa PAC
ticket office, or via the internet at www.MyTicketOffice.com.
Discounts are available for groups of 20 or more, call Celebrity Attractions at 796-0220 for discount prices. For more
information, visit the official “I Can’t Stop Loving You: The
Music of Ray Charles” website at www.geniusofray.com.
NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
15
entertainment
Not Home for the Holidays
Restaurants open Thanksgiving Day.
Fixing a big meal may not be your idea of
taking it easy. With Thanksgiving Day approaching, everyone is planning the big event—the meal.
Turkeys and cranberries are hot commodities.
Marshmallows are in sudden demand. And recipes
for that perfect, moist dressing are being handed
over, passed around, and researched.
You, however, may have other plans. If you’d
The Chalkboard
Ambassador Hotel
1324 S. Main
918.582.1964
Hours: 6:30a-10a,
11a–2:30p, 5-9p
Warren Duck Club
DoubleTree at Warren Place
6110 S. Yale
918.495.1000
Hours: 10:30a–2p (Grand Ballroom); 11a–3p (Duck Club)
Cypress Grille
Renaissance Hotel
6808 S. 107th E. Ave.
918.307.2600
Hours: 7a-10:30a, 11-2p
(reservations required)
rather skip the preparing or cooking the feast, or
cleaning the dishes left afterward, there are restaurants ready and willing to cater to that desire.
Take a break. Take it easy. Let someone else make
your holiday meal memorable. Here are some holiday options for Thanksgiving Day (all hours listed
are for Thanksgiving Day only):
Cattleman’s Steakhouse
Embassy Suites
3332 S. 27th E. Ave.
918.622.4000
Hours: 11a–8p
The Green Onion
4532 E. 51st Street
918.481.3338
Hours: 10:30a–3:30p
Furr’s Family Dining
The Farm
6560 E. 51st Street
918.663.4181
Hours: 11a–6p
Mimi’s Café
8215 E. 71st Street
918.254.6333
Hours: 7:30a-11a
Marie Callendar’s
3837 E. 51st Street
918.747.8062
Hours: 12-8p
Café Savannah’s at Forest Ridge
Forest Ridge Golf Club
901 N. Forest Ridge Blvd.
Broken Arrow
918.357.2719
Hours: 7:30a–12p (breakfast);
12-2:30p (buffet only)
Cash Back!
Up to $3,000 on select GMC’s
We are Professional Grade
Where Customers Send Their Friends
Located on Hwy 69 South in Wagoner
1-800-375-9464
www.grovercars.com
918-485-2188
Take a Short Drive To Savings!
16
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
H O L I D AY F A M I LY E V E N T S
Lights on Parade. PSO Christmas Parade of
Lights announced, Miss America 2006 as
Grand Marshal.
• Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry will
serve as the Grand Marshal in the PSO Christmas Parade of Lights at 6 p.m., Saturday,
December 9. Jennifer Berry, a Jenks graduate
who participated in the parade last year as
Miss Oklahoma, is currently on a national
speaking tour promoting the Miss America
Organization and her platform of Building
Intolerance to Drunk Driving and Underage
Drinking. As a spokesperson for Mothers
Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and an aspiring
teacher, Jennifer has spent her year of service
working towards increasing awareness and
community action towards her platform.
Christmas Walk Strolls In. 24th Annual Cascia
Hall Christmas Walk set.
• The 24th Annual Cascia Hall Christmas
Walk will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on
Sunday, December 3. The tour includes four
elegant homes in the midtown area beautifully
decorated for the holidays by four of Tulsa’s
best decorators/florists. The brand new Cascia
Hall Performing Arts Center will also be decorated and included on this year’s tour.
Transportation is provided from Cascia Hall,
2520 S. Yorktown Ave., to all four homes. Tickets are $10 each with proceeds going toward
the Cascia Hall Parent Faculty Association to
benefit numerous projects enhancing the educational environment at Cascia Hall.
The Cascia gift boutique, in the Cascia Hall
gymnasium, will feature over 50 vendors.
Other holiday items available at the school will
include:
• Hundreds of unique gift baskets
• Poinsettias and wreaths
• Cascia Café for lunch
• Delicious Kringles
Sounds of ORU Music.
• The ORU Music Department will be holding
their ORU Family Christmas concert at 7:30
p.m., Friday, Dec. 1 at the Mabee Center.
Celebrate Freedom. Fifth annual hangar dance
and aircraft display.
• Ready for some great family fun and
excitement? Celebrate Freedom on Saturday,
November 11, with the local squadron of the
Commemorative Air Force, is sponsoring their
fifth annual Celebrate Freedom: Big Band
Hangar Dance and Aircraft Display. This year’s
theme is ‘Thank a Vet.’ Both events will take
place at the state-of-the-art Tulsa Technology
Center (TTC), 801 E. 91st St., Jones-Riverside
Airport in Jenks. TTC is handicap accessible.
Dance tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at
the door. Better yet, get your friends together
and reserve a table for ten by calling
918.794.4182.
Tickets can also be purchased at the daytime
event or Carson Attractions, McGuire Music
Repair Tulsa Air and Space Museum, The
Music Store, Roadhouse Aviation at JonesRiverside Airport.
All on a Christmas Day.
• The Annual South Tulsa Baptist Church
Dinner Theater production, “All on a Christmas Day,” will be held at 7 p.m. on November
30, December 1 and 2 at the church, 10310 S.
Sheridan. This Broadway style musical is
about a journey of faith, created by Custer and
Hoose with Dennis and Nan Allen.
Tickets are $15, reserved seating only. Doors
open at 6:30 p.m. for each show. A free matinee will be held at 1:30 p.m., December 2, with
no meal served and reserved seating only.
Another free performance will be held 10:30
a.m. on December 3.
The Adult Handbell Choir will play a variety
of Christmas selections during the event.
For more information, you can visit, southtulsabaptist.org.
One Starry Night. ORU presents annual
Christmas show.
• The 2006 Oral Roberts University Christmas celebration, one of Tulsa’s favorite annual
community Christmas events, is scheduled for
Friday, December 1, at the ORU Mabee Center.
This year’s theme is “One Starry Night,” and
in addition to the ORU combined choirs and
orchestra, the evening will also feature ORU
President Richard Roberts, Kelly Ford, The Preslar Sisters, the New Light Christian Center
Church Celebration Choir from Houston, Texas,
the ORU TV Singers, and others.
A Children’s Open House will be held from
6:15 to 7:15 p.m. on the Mabee Center entry
level at the top of the escalators. There will be
fun activities for children, including games,
treats, face painting, Eli the Golden Eagle, and
photos with Santa Claus and Eli the Golden
Eagle. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Concert attendees are asked to bring a donation of a new, unwrapped toy or canned food
items for admission to the show. All donations
will be distributed by the ORU Community Outreach Department to families in the Tulsa community. For more information, call 495.7250.
Christmas All Year.
• Songwriter and vocalist Dennis Jernigan and
the First United Methodist Church in Claremore
are presenting, “Like Christmas All Year
‘Round,” on December 15. The concert, featuring Jernigan, First Praise and the FUMC Chancel
Choir will start at 7:30 p.m. at FUMC in Claremore, 1615 N. Hwy 88.
There is no charge for the concert but a love
offering will be taken. Reservations are recommended.
Spiritual Growth During the Holidays. Featuring
Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend
• Stand in the Gap Celebration 2006 is proud
to present, “The Grow Conference,” set for Friday, November 10, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Asbury
Methodist Church. Keynote speakers are Dr.
Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend to speak
on, “How People Grow: What the Bible Reveals
about Personal Growth.”
In this conference, Dr. Cloud and Dr. Townsend
discuss that our desire to grow runs deep. But
why, even with our best efforts at spiritual
growth, do the issues and relationships in our
lives that we wish would change often stay the
same?
Learn what has to happen for growth to occur
in your spiritual walk, your marriage and family
life, your friendships, and your own personal
development.
Who Should Attend? Pastors, ministry teams,
psychologists, clinical social workers, nurses,
marital and family therapists, licensed profes-
sional counselors, lay leaders, those seeking
spiritual growth, and those curious to learn
about how people grow. If you fall in any of
these categories then this conference is for you!
Registration is $40 per person. Register online
at www.standinthegaptulsa.org.
Oklahoma’s 13th Annual Tulsa Holiday Mart.
Exceptional Merchandise…Fabulous Shopping…One Great Cause.
• Enjoy the ambiance and splendor of the holiday season with Tulsa Holiday Mart, a shopping
event to benefit Operation Aware of Oklahoma
held at the Expo Center. Running Friday, November 17, through Sunday, November 19, shoppers
will find unusual gifts, clothing, delicious foods,
gourmet gifts, home accessories, children’s toys,
books, holiday and seasonal items.
The event hours are 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Friday;
9a.m.–6 p.m., Saturday; noon–6 p.m., Sunday.
Tickets are $5 per day, $10 for a three-day
pass, and $25 for Friday’s Preview Event and
Fashion Show and a three-day pass.
For more information, call Operation Aware of
Oklahoma at 918-582-7884 or visit us online at
www.operationaware.org
Holiday Extravaganza.
• The Country Club of Woodland Hills will be
holding their annual Holiday Extravaganza from
10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday, December 1, at the
Woodland Hills Retirement Community, 6333 S.
91st E. Ave. off 61st Street between Memorial
and Mingo.
Enjoy hot apple cider and holiday music while
shopping with local vendors which includes
home décor, gift baskets, jewelry, accessories
and much more!!
Marshall Chiropractic will be holding a canned
food drive in November and a clothing drive in
December for John 3:16.
• New patients can bring in a coat or five cans
of good and receive a free exam and x-ray at no
cost. The November food drive will help John
3:16 through the holidays and the December
clothing drive is for coats and gloves to help
John 3:16 through the winter. You can drop off
your donated items at Marshall Chiropractic,
6703 E. 81st., Suite E. You can also visit Marshall
Chiropractic on the web, www.MarshallChiropractic.com.
NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
19
Bethany Celebrates 10th “Living
Christmas Tree” Production
NEW VISION FOR ESTABLISHED PRODUCTION
Many believe that if something isn’t broken,
don’t mess with it. Bethany Church’s “Living Christmas
Tree” is certainly not broken. For the past nine years, the Holiday spectacular has thrilled sold out audiences with inspiring
music and intricate light patterns. All of this was set against a
tree that towered 30 feet over the sanctuary platform. People
of all ages and backgrounds have made the Bethany holiday
20
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
celebration the longest running production of its type in Tulsa.
In spite of past successes, the 10th annual production will
not look anything like its predecessors. Everything is changing
for 2006. “This is our 10th,” said Bethany’s Senior Pastor
Randy Wilson. “We wanted to do something special to celebrate.”
“Something special” is quite an understatement. First, the
production is moving to the big stage at TCC’s Performing Arts
Center for Education (PACE). “We are so fortunate to have a
facility like the PACE in our community,” said Rev. Wilson,
“and it isn’t all that far from the church.”
But it is far more than just a change of venue. A completely
revamped production has mandated the move. “Our new
music pastor (Mark Frie) has tremendous background in theatre and musical productions,” Wilson adds. “As the Living
Christmas Tree has grown over the years, we have felt the limitations of our church sanctuary. It just wouldn’t work for a
production like this.”
The production Pastor Wilson is talking about is a full musical theatre experience titled “A Time For Christmas.” “People
will experience a full theatrical experience,” explains Mark
Frie. “We will have all the lights, costumes (from Dallas), sets
(from California) and a live orchestra.”
Performances are set at TCC for 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 17 and Sunday, December 18. There is also a 3 p.m. matinee on December 18.
“Using a professional theatre will open up so many possibilities for theatrical effects and sets that we couldn’t do at the
church,” continues Frie. “In years past, the tree has been performed in a revue format. This year, the tree is being incorporated into a dramatic musical much like you could see on
Broadway.”
Mark Frie knows Broadway. He and wife, Kim, toured
nationally with several major shows. He played Jud in Discoveryland’s “Oklahoma” and is currently producing and starring
in Tulsa Community College’s “Guys and Dolls.”
With all the major changes, one thing will remain consis-
tent…the spectacular Bethany “Living Christmas Tree.” “The
tree will be a natural fit into the timeline of this musical,” said
Frie. “As the main character is taken to different time periods
to see how people throughout the ages have celebrated Christmas, one of the stops is at a local church production of a Living Christmas Tree. The tree still plays a huge part of this production, but it is one piece of a larger puzzle that makes up
the total experience.”
Another thing that will not change is the message of holiday
hope the Living Christmas Tree has brought to thousands over
the years. “There is a line in the show that says, ‘In all of history there is no more important Christmas than the one you
celebrate now, if you celebrate it with an open heart,’” said
Frie. “I hope people don’t wait until next year to celebrate the
true meaning of Christmas. We are so busy these days that we
overlook the birth of Christ as the real reason for the celebration.”
Pastor Wilson adds, “We want people to hear and see the
real message of Christmas and God loves them. God loves us
so much that He sent His Son into our world so that we could
be part of His world. It is the same simple, but powerful message of God’s love.”
All seats to the 2006 production are reserved and may be
purchased at the TCC PACE box office, Highway 169 and
81st Street. Tickets are $10. Ticket information is available by
calling TCC’s PACE at 918.595.7777. Box office hours are 8
a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday and one hour before
each performance. The TCC website (www.TulsaCC.edu) also
provides links to the PACE and performances hosted at that
facility. Information about the “Living Christmas Tree” production and Bethany Church is available at
www.BethanyFWB.org.
NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
21
Feeling the Spirit
Spirit 102.3 and Andy Chrisman unite for Sunday morning praise and worship show.
Let’s get ready to worship! Tulsa’s newest Contemporary Christian station, The New Spirit 102.3
(KKCM-FM), recently launched the addition of a brand
new six-hour weekly Sunday morning Praise & Worship. Spirit 102.3 Sunday Morning Worship airs from
6 a.m. to Noon every Sunday. The show will feature
the most popular modern Worship music, from artists
including Chris Tomlin, Bebo Norman, Paul Baloche,
and Phillips, Craig & Dean.
Former 4 Him lead singer Andy Chrisman will be
the weekly host of Spirit 102.3 Sunday Morning Worship. Vocalist on over a dozen #1 Contemporary
Christian singles while with 4 Him, Chrisman’s solo
career is in full swing with his solo debut, One. Chrisman now lives in Tulsa with his wife and two children, and serves as a worship pastor at Church On
The Move.
22
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
Chris Kelly, Spirit 102.3’s program director and host
of Chris, Rebecca & Good Friends in the Morning,
said, “The planning of this show dates back to the
day Spirit 102.3 went on the air, with a vision of using
someone of Andy’s caliber as part of the show. We
are excited to have Andy as part of the Spirit 102.3
family. Modern Worship music is a big part of the
Spirit 102.3 music mix and our intent is to set a tone
for the morning as we enter into worship to the Lord
all over Northeastern Oklahoma.”
Spirit 102.3 Sunday Morning Worship host Andy
Chrisman said he’s excited about this new chapter of
his life. “My goal is pretty simple, I just want to introduce people to worship music. I want people to tune
in and be encouraged. We’ll be sharing the Word
throughout the show. It’s going to be a lot of fun,”
Chrisman said.
from the pulpit
Why Do Catholics
Pray to the Saints?
An interview with Monsignor Patrick Gaalaas of the Catholic Diocese of Tulsa
and pastor of The Church of Saint Benedict, Broken Arrow
NOTE FROM THE
PUBLISHER:
Why did we include this
article? This is indeed a
departure from our normal subject matter. However, it is important you
understand that we did
so not to argue doctrine,
but rather to understand
other points of view. Not
to separate and divide
our readers, but rather to
open the door for discussion. Not to persuade our
readers toward one doctrine or way of thinking,
but rather to encourage
all of us to study the
Word. This is the second
of a six-month series
entitled, “From the Pulpit.” I pray you will be
open-minded as you read
each article. And
please…don’t look for
any sinister reasons why
we would include this
series. The members of
the Community Spirit
team come from a wide
assortment of churches.
We have “no bone to
pick” with any of the
mainline Christian
churches. But please do
let us know what you
think about the series.
So, here goes.
24
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
One of the things that separate Protestants from Catholics is the Catholic view of
sainthood. We decided to interview Monsignor Patrick Gaalaas for a better understanding of this practice. Monsignor Gaalaas is the vicar general of the Catholic
Diocese of Tulsa and pastors The Church of Saint Benedict in Broken Arrow.
CS: Monsignor, do Catholics pray to
God?
Monsignor: Yes, of course. Frequently
and fervently. Perhaps you ask the
question, though, because Catholics
also address prayers to the Saints. Are
these two things contradictory? Not at
all. But I know there is often confusion
about this in the minds of our Protestant
friends.
CS: When you pray to saints, especially
in front of statues of those saints, isn’t
it idolatry?
Monsignor: No, but I can see how it
might look like that to non-Catholics.
Protestants almost never pray to Saints.
They speak exclusively to God, and so
to them the words “pray to” necessarily
connote adoration, which is something
given only to God. Consequently, when
they hear that Catholics pray also to
Saints, they think we’re adoring the
Saints. Not at all!
You see, Catholics use the word “pray”
in another one of its meanings. In my
Webster’s dictionary, the very first
meaning listed for the word “pray” is
“to entreat, to implore, to make a
request in a humble manner.” The plays
NOVEMBER 2006
of William Shakespeare are filled with
the use of the word in that sense: one
human character speaks to another
human character and says, “I pray thee
this,” or “I pray thee that.”
It’s in this first-listed meaning of the
word that Catholics pray also to the
Saints, whom we see as special friends
of God in Heaven. We implore or entreat
their assistance; we humbly request the
aid of their prayers. We talk to them as
you and I might talk to each other. We
ask them to pray for us—and with us—
to God.
Does this mean that we put them in
God’s place? Heavens, no! If you or I
approach a fellow Christian and humbly
ask him to pray for us, do we mean to
elevate him to the place of God? Of
course not.
Catholics pray to God as every other
Christian does. Catholics pray to the
Saints as one Christian speaks to another. As to those statues, they simply
remind us of the persons we love and
speak to. The Saints are living beings,
not pieces of carved stone or wood. And
we honor their images just as anyone
might honor the portraits of his family
and other loved ones.
Father Gaalaas was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in
1946. Various job assignments of his father took the family first to Elmhurst, Illinois, then to Fort Worth, Texas, and
finally to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Father was ordained
to the priesthood in 1972 and from that time has served
the Church in this eastern part of Oklahoma, which since
1973 has been called the Diocese of Tulsa. St. Benedict’s
is Fr. Gaalaas’ eighth assignment since his ordination, his
fourth as a pastor. He came to St. Benedict’s in 1995.
NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
25
Sponsored by:
Jared glover
FCA athlete molds belief into action
The Meriam-Webster dictionary describes the
word solid—as of good substantial quality or
kind; made firmly and well.
As the Athlete of the Month for November,
FCA could hardly agree more when announcing the honor goes to Bixby High School senior, Jared Glover.
He is solid in almost every aspect of his life.
As a team leader on the Spartans football team, he helped
lead Bixby to the State Championship game last year and
has them off to a great start and in contention again for a
play-off run in 2006.
In the classroom, Jared has shown he is ready to make the
jump to college.
He recently received the Advanced Placement (AP) Scholar Award for receiving three AP scored of four or above. He
has already earned 21 hours of college credit and will have
30 hours under his belt after this semester!
On the football field Glover stands 6-5 and weighs in
close to 225 pounds—one solid player in 5A football! He
has received 14 college scholarship opportunities and was
recently nominated as a candidate for the Wendy’s High
School Heisman award. Jared is listed as the 7th best high
school player in the state, but it is not his athletic ability
that is most impressive, but his spiritual leadership and love
for the Lord Jesus Christ that shines through.
Jared is solid in his spiritual leadership on and off campus. He is one of the FCA officers in the Bixby Huddle. He
26
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
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recently organized their “Fields of Faith” outreach event at
the highs school stadium where over 300 students attended
from area schools and several made first-time commitments
to Christ including four of his Bixby teammates. He serves
on the programming team at Riverview Baptist Church in
Bixby where he attends. This past summer Glover was also
selected to serve as a Huddle Leader counselor at the FCA
Junior High Boys Camp in Norman.
Many high school athletes find it hard to balance their
spiritual identity and gifts with their academic and athletic
abilities. “I have struggled with it. I have always been very
faithful, but my walk wasn't and still isn't what it can be. I
have gotten much better with getting into the Word and
journaling, which helps me live stronger for Him,” Jared
shared.
When asked about his passion for reaching others for
Christ, Jared said, “I feel that God has blessed me athletically so that, through sports, I can have more influence on
others. He allows me to be an example to people of how to
walk with Him.” He continued to share that “Isaiah 40:31
is my favorite verse. Those who trust in the Lord shall
renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.
This verse shows me that as I put all my faith in Him and
trust in Him, he will always be right beside me to lift me
up.”
What one thing would he want readers to learn from him
and his life?
“I would just want them to know that God is REAL.
Whenever you are struggling with something, just turn to
Him and he will always pull you through it. Allow yourself
to throw away your earthly situation and put all of your
faith in Him, and he will bless you. Just know that God has
a plan. I have learned it in my life; I could worry about it all
I wanted to, but no amount of worrying is going to change
anything. God’s will be done.”
Jared Glover is solid. A young man of good substantial
quality and kind, made firmly and well. A deserving candidate for the FCA Athlete of the Month.
NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
27
Thankful for the Lessons
of their Fathers
Children’s children are
the crown of old men;
and the glory of children
are their fathers.
Newcombs raise four generations of men.
Proverbs 17:6
LARRY WHITE
THE BABY
In March of 2005, a shrill, boisterous
cry coming from the delivery room heralded the arrival of a male born into the
Newcomb family of Broken Arrow. Not
that there was anything unusual about
that—it’s been a recurring event over the
past 100 years. What may fit into the
category of unusual is that baby Jake
Newcomb was ushered into this world
preceded by a family of four generations
of Chiropractic physicians.
THE FATHER
Dr. Doug Newcomb, in many ways, is
not much different from most first-time
dads. Knowing that babies don’t come
with operating manuals, the new father
admitted he didn’t have any preconceived notions on how he and his wife
would rear the newest addition to the
Newcomb family.
He added, “I’m the oldest child in my
family with a brother and a sister, and I
think my parents did a pretty good job
with us so I’d like to emulate a lot of
what they did.”
In reflecting on the first year of his
son’s life, Doug recounted the unknown
factors that accompany fatherhood. “I
knew it would be a humongous commitment and obviously it is a life-long commitment, but the biggest difference was
the time commitment. It’s 24 / 7. In the
middle of the night he wakes up crying
and somebody has to go take care of
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
THE GRANDFATHER
Granddad, Dr. Brent Newcomb, is a
native of Broken Arrow. He occupies an
interesting position in the family’s clinic
in that he has already traveled the road
that his son, Doug, is taking—deciding
to go into Chiropractic medicine and
into business with his father.
“Dad made a point to treat me like an
adult when I got out of school and I’ve
done the same thing with my son.”
Brent is well pleased with Doug as
both a son and a co-worker in the business.
“Doug was a good son. He followed
what he was supposed to do all the way
through. I can’t remember any time that
he scared me as a parent. He followed
the rules and was always respectful.
Dr. Doug Newcomb and his son, Jake.
him.”
Going to work every day with your
father and your grandfather might be
quite challenging to most new dads, but
Doug says he’s quite comfortable with
the arrangement. “My dad has been very
good about not telling me what to do
when it comes to Jake. But at the same
time he’s very helpful with any questions
that I have.
“It’s great to know that, growing up,
Jake’s going to have that extra family
influence, not just parents, but grandparents and great grandparents there to help
28
raise him. I really cherish that.”
NOVEMBER 2006
Dr. Brent Newcomb.
“My wife and I felt
like raising our children in the church
was very important
and when they were
young we took them
all the time. Our
church had a big
youth group doing
lots of fun things. We
really never had to
ask our kids to go to
church—they wanted
to go. And I give God
the credit for lots of
the stuff that went
right with my kids.”
Brent’s philosophy
on parenting is relatively simple.
be a dictator. When
“Parenting your chil- Four generations of the Newcomb family.
they get a little
dren when they’re young requires you to
older, you’re a friendly dictator and you
allow a little capitalism. When they
become teenagers, you become an advisor with veto power. Then later on,
you’re just an advisor. I feel that’s the
legacy that Dad gave to me.”
Dr. James Newcomb.
THE GREAT GRANDFATHER
The year was 1957
when Dr. James Newcomb relocated his
family and his business from Kansas
City to the corner of
Main and Elgin in
Broken Arrow. He
couldn’t have imagined that almost 50
years later his family
and his business
would still be occupying that same corner.
“I think
one of the
most important things we
have here as
we work successfully as a
family without any problems is that
we have a
great respect
for each other
not only for
our professional knowledge but as
individuals.”
The reigning patriarch
of the Newcomb family looks at his family’s accomplishments with great satisfaction and speaks proudly of its continuing
traditions. He’s thankful for the bond the
men share.
“They’re (Brent and Doug) doing the
same things that I did in that they have
great talent in their profession, interest in
society in general, and an interest of their
church. Life has been good to us.”
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COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
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ANNA D. WRIGHT
Are you ready for a change
of scenery? Planning to stay in
someone’s home during the holidays?
A flight attendant once said with a
grin, “Traveling is the process that
allows you to experience a different
neighborhood without going to the
trouble of moving.”
I smiled back and said, “Yes, and
when your adventure is finished,
coming home usually feels so good
you are quite happy you visited and
did not move.”
Last November on a trip to Ohio
and New Jersey, I spent a week staying in the homes of friends and family
in three different cities. It had been
32
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
several years since I had been back to
Ohio, and we were all eager to visit.
Naturally, one of the special things
about traveling is the warm memories
that linger long afterward. That was
my goal, but I knew forethought was
definitely in order for the many connections and schedule arrangements
to go well. Besides that, staying in
someone’s home is different than
staying in a hotel, regardless of the
relationship you have with them, and
that takes wise planning.
Quite unexpectedly, on that trip I
encountered a difficult situation.
Thanks to good planning, my time
spent at my friend’s home was a calm
oasis outside that side storm. We had
a wonderful visit, and the issue was
handled very well from that warm
environment.
Will you also be a guest in someone’s home during the holidays this
year? What are some things you can
do in order to leave behind good
memories? A little forethought goes a
long way toward making you a gracious guest. Here are seven things to
consider:
1. Appreciate your host.
Respect and nurture your friendship.
We humans are wired to need relationships, so mentally focus on enjoying your time with your host as much
loving home
as the activities you are planning.
Gibran said, “Your friend is your
field which you sow with love and
reap with thanksgiving.” Once you
orient your thoughts this way, your
actions will naturally tend toward
fulfilling that idea when you are
there. If you have children, use this as
a teaching opportunity about building relationships. And remember the
example we set for our children
about hospitality is one they will use
in their personal and work relationships all their lives.
For example, I knew each of my
hosts had taken special care to prepare the room where I would be staying, so I took a few moments to tell
them how thoughtful they are and
that I sincerely appreciate that trait in
them. I also commented how nice the
room looked and asked if there were
any special stories behind the things
in it. It was an unexpected treat to
hear the stories behind a bedspread at
one home, and some lovely figurines
at another.
2. Communicate beforehand
about planning activities. Don’t
assume you each have the same
expectations about how you want to
spend your time. It is not wise to let
your hosts wrack their brains coming
up with ways to occupy you every
minute with outside activities if you
would thoroughly enjoy some time to
simply relax and visit with them.
Also, let your hosts know if you are
planning to visit other people with or
without them, and give them the
times as best you can.
My new daughter-in-law was
relieved to know she didn’t need to
entertain me like a tourist every waking moment and that I really wanted
to spend some quality time getting to
know her better.
3. Keep your joyful, flexible
attitude. Are you familiar with your
host’s work schedule or typical household routine? If not, in a casual
friendly way, ask ahead of time, and
allow for differences in schedule and
lifestyle. Do you wake up in the
morning with the roosters? Or, at
home do you stay up at night with
the owls? Negotiate in a friendly way
so everyone gets the basic rest they
need. Keep the conversation positive
and lighthearted.
It was interesting that the couples
in each home where I stayed had one
early riser and one late riser. These
folks had happily learned to adapt
their morning routines based more on
the activities planned for the day than
anyone’s sleep preferences. They’d
already discovered that J. Stephens
was right when he said, “We often
grow more by bending than by standing in rigid defiance.”
4. Remember to use common
sense when considering how
to handle your health issues
versus your personal habits.
There is a big difference between asking someone to accommodate the
needs of a diabetic and smoking cigarettes in their home. There is a
healthy balance between demanding
too much and asking too little. Assess
your actual needs. Do you need medications, snacks or special mealtimes?
Can you pack things in your suitcase
and handle most of it on your own?
If they have health issues try to
understand ahead of time what is
needed to handle them. Since I
brought up smoking, if your potential
hosts smoke and you don’t, how sensitive are you to cigarette smoke? You
need to weigh out beforehand
whether you actually can stay there,
in spite of your desire to spend extra
time with them. Common sense in
this case is not letting your emotions
sway sound judgment.
5. Do unto others in the bathroom as you would have done
unto you. I don’t
relish cleaning up
someone else’s
debris in the bathroom, and who
does? So, when I
finished my turn, I
wiped out their
shower with my
washcloth and
rinsed it out. I
hung up my wet
towel. One minute
spent on bathroom etiquette truly is
well spent.
6. Set aside a few quiet minutes each day during your trip;
it is powerful preventative
medicine. Set the stage diplomatically with your hosts to step aside
from the adventure of visiting to be
still, even if it is only 15 minutes.
Quiet your mind. Meditate. Quiet
your body.
How often do we come down with
the flu on the heels of a vacation?
Traveling places its own demands on
your body. Although we don’t
always consciously think about it,
when we are at home, we have short
periods of rest. Your mind and body
need those or you can become overstimulated and stressed. Give yourself
permission to go to your room for a
short break. Close your eyes or read
something inspirational. On my trip,
I packed copies of several pages from
a daily devotional I am reading. The
papers took very little space, and I
didn’t have to worry about keeping
track of the book. I couldn’t nap, but
the little rest and reading was a perfect refresher.
7. Plan ahead to say goodbye
in a special way. Pack a thank you
card or small gift that you can leave
behind for them. When you are getting ready to leave there is rarely time
to buy this.
What sort of travels are in store for
you this holiday season? The holidays
often mean trips and overnight stays
with others. These tips can help make
your visits with friends or family the
yarns that weave sweet memories to
warm your soul for years to come.
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NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
33
loving home
10 Mistakes Men Make
While Hanging Christmas Lights
C AT H E R I N E Z O L L E R
In a continuing effort to offer you valuable lessons from past experiences,
while at the same time allowing you to
learn from our bevy of local experts, in
this case, Lee’s Electric, we bring you a
timely article on Christmas light safety.
For some reason that has yet to be
explained, most lists come in sets of ten. You
rarely see a list of “Nine Things to Stock in your Tornado
Shelter” or “Eleven Tips for Flushing Fat.” I think it all started with the first list on record, which were the Ten Commandments. If ten was good enough for God, far be it from
us to deviate from that model.
With no further ado, we bring you that nice round number of tips to consider when decorating the outside of your
home and yard for the coming Christmas season. While
some of these might seem like common sense, if you have
never done something before, the sense might not seem so
common. Allow us to help.
1. Do not attempt to hang your lights while they are
plugged in. Remember you are dealing with
live electricity. That’s what makes the
lights come on. We are so used to
this phenomenon that we are
tempted to overlook the potential danger. The goal is to survive the ordeal and live to hang
them again next year. Jerry
Reed, from Lee’s Electric,
advocates using GFCI
(ground-fault-circuit-interrupters) to reduce the
chance of getting
shocked. Notice I
said, “reduce.”
Caution rules.
Think safety at
all times and
remember, this
is not a job for
children. Let them
place the packages
under the tree and
make ginger bread
houses.
36
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
2. While you don’t want to hang the lights when they are
on, you DO need to test the strand for any bulbs that have
lived a long and full life and died in the off-season. There is
nothing more frustrating than gathering the family for the
great switch-on, only to have nothing happen. This is very
anticlimactic and the more times it happens, the less
chance a crowd will gather. Think: ‘The Little Boy Who
Cried Wolf.’
Most strands these days will light regardless of bulbs that
don’t work, making it easy to replace any that are burned
out, but it’s still easier to do it when the sockets are within
easy reach. As in, before a ladder is required to accomplish
the goal.
3. Keep the lights off the ground as much as possible to
avoid getting shocked. This may seem like a contradiction
to rule two, but it’s on the list. My job is to write the list.
Your job is to figure out how to do two seemingly opposite
things. Good luck.
4. Do not overload the circuits. Remember, as with perfume, cleavage and rich desserts, less is more.
5. Do not try to outdo the Griswold’s. This is not a contest. There is no first prize. If you enjoy a blaze of Christmas
lights, visit Rhema.
6. A different perspective of rule 4 is: Do not create a
tourist attraction. Your neighbors will not be amused or
impressed. The solution for this dilemma is the same as for
number five.
7. God planned night and day. Do not attempt to interrupt this pattern. If you are reading this magazine by the
aura from your Christmas displays you might want to revisit rule number four. Our friend Jerry recommends using
only UL listed/approved light fixtures. I recommend keeping
your displays modest, yet meaningful.
8. This rule is very important so please read it carefully.
According to “Miss Manner’s Guide to Christmas Etiquette,” ALL Christmas lights and decorations MUST be
taken down no later than the Spring equinox. Earlier is better. No fair leaving them up all year
in an effort to avoid the fun of having to do
it all over again the following December.
9. Life is NOT an AFLAC commercial. If
you fall backwards off a ladder while holding onto a cable, a duck will not come and
pay your bills, bring your dinner or even
attend your funeral.
10. If all of this seems like just too much
to worry about, leave the hard work to others, sell your lights in a garage sale and join
the gazing throng circling Rhema. Oh, and have a
blessed and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
loving home
Adaptive Accessorizing
ANNA D. WRIGHT
The accessories we use are among the most
powerful elements of an interior design plan.
Although they are generally the last thing I install, I
don’t underestimate their influence. There is a parallel
in fashion. For example, if you put on a black silk shirt
and pants, you have a fine foundation. But the accessories are what complete and define the look. If you
add a diamond pendant and earrings, you are ready for
an elegant dinner. Instead, if you add wooden jewelry
or a checked scarf to the same outfit, you convey a
more casual message simply by your choice of accessories.
In a very similar way, home accessories define and
add character to an area. Today there are more fine
accessory choices than ever. As a result, we are allocating more of the design budget to accessories, and that
is a good decision. Because this is the case, a few years
ago I began to ponder how I could pack more enjoyment and value into my accessory plans, and I developed several new
strategies. This is
one of those
strategies I call
“adaptive accessories” because it
relates directly to
Entry After: Adaptable tray table and flowing fountain
decorating for the
soften long entry hall and create seasonal interest.
approaching holidays.
built to hold both the floor fountain and the floBy adaptive
rals. In addition, rather than having my floral
accessories I
designer secure the florals in the usual fashion by
mean pieces that
attaching the mechanics to the base, I had the silk
can be changed,
flowers at the very bottom arranged in several indior adapted, for
vidual containers which were then set in the base.
different seasons
Therefore, these containers can be lifted out of the
or holidays. This
lovely base; then other containers with various holadds value to
iday florals can be set in their place. For the permayour investment
nent florals at the top of the arrangement, a mixand provides
ture of silk greenery was selected that would look
variety as you
appropriate with a wide variety of seasonal plants
change these
in the base.
items throughout Entry Before: This hallway feels corridor-like and
When considering the value of well-chosen and
the year. This con- utilitarian without accessories.
effectively placed accessories, look at the before and
cept can be used on
after photos of this entry. In the before photo, the
small or large accent pieces.
area feels like a long narrow passageway. By adding a few
For example, the large floor fountain in the photo was
substantial accessories with character, the entry is transconstructed in a very special way. I had an attractive base
formed. The large floor fountain, painting, tray stand, and
NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
37
GENESIS
DESIGN
GROUP
LLC
A FULL SERVICE INTERIOR DESIGN FIRM
Anna D. Wright is an IDS Associate with Genesis Design Group, LLC. She
• Updating Home or Office
specializes in home and community interior design, construction and
• New Space Planning
remodel plan and management, and Genesis-Style Design Seminars.
• Building
She can be reached at 918-585-2662, [email protected],
or by fax 918-524-0386.
• Remodeling
• Selling
Mark Close Roofing
• Holiday Décor
• Special Events
Änna D. Wright
Certified I.D.S. Associate Designer
Designing beautiful interiors that nurture your body, soul
& spirit at home and at work. From concept to completion,
you can pleasantly shop at home right where your rooms are.
918-585-2662
[email protected]
38
umbrella urn soften the
lines of the long hallway
and invite you into the
lovely interior. Accessories can help define
your design personality
and can also delight all
the senses. The large
fountain with the sound
of moving water and
various florals delights
the senses in constantly
fresh ways.
The tray table also
adapts to serve various
functions. At party
time, it stands cleared,
ready to receive handheld items as guests
arrive. At other times, a
candle or other small
items can be arranged
on the same tray table.
Accessories are a good
investment. And, accent
pieces that can be varied
Fountain Detail: This floor fountain sits
bring you increased pleasure.
on a unique base that holds florals in
removable containers.
Because these accessories are
adaptable, they create a never
ending source of interest throughout the year.
Adaptable accessorizing has become one of my favorite new
design strategies, and my clients love it. In fact, a few years ago
I began presenting “Accessory Magic Shows” where I demonstrate adaptable accessory ideas for women’s groups, and the
ladies keep asking me back for more. Just as we enjoy the
changing seasons, we humans were created to enjoy variety in
our home environment. Adaptable accessories give you the
tools you need to create a fresh and continually interesting
home environment.
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
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u
Internet Opens New
Doors in Real Estate
“The times, they are a changing,” sang Bob Dylan
in his famous song. Wow! He didn’t know the half of it.
Technology, particularly the Internet, is changing the
way we do most everything. And if you haven’t bought or
sold a home in a few years, you will be amazed at how it
has made the process so much simpler.
We interviewed John L. Hausam, president of ERA John
Hausam Realtors®, to understand how technology has
changed the business of buying and selling real estate. Literally growing up in the business and operating one of the
top agencies in the area, John has been in the position to
watch and capitalize on the latest technology.
“Gone are the days of endlessly driving from house to
house to match the right home with your customer’s needs
and wants. Today’s technology allows us to help the buyer
to pinpoint their search, weighing everything from cost per square foot, to
taxes, to the latest comparison of the
school districts. We have learned to use
the Internet to give our customers quick
access to the information needed for
them to make
an informed
decision. It is
the wave of
the future and
has been one
of the key reasons for our
company’s
success,” said
Hausam.
“We know
that ninetytwo percent
of buyers now
go online
before selecting a
Realtor®.
They are
more sophisticated buyers.
They have
often already
narrowed
their search;
know what they want and what they qualify for. We do
our best to provide them the best website tools to do that
research and to locate the right home,” he explained.
The Hausam website (www.johnhausam.com) is packed
full of useful information. Imagine if you were moving to
Tulsa and didn’t know much about the area. The website
guides you first through selecting an agent. You can see
their picture, read about their selling experience and philosophy, and even do an area wide search for agents with
special language skills. Need an agent who speaks Chinese,
Hmong, Lao, Vietnamese, Italian, or Spanish? Hausam has
one.
The site then helps the client select the right community.
Helpful links allow the comparison of
u
We have learned to use the Internet to give our customers
quick access to the information needed for them to make
an informed decision. It is the wave of the future and has been
one of the key reasons for our company’s success.
nearly every aspect…the school district, the local governments,
the projected growth and so forth. The website also encourages
the client to sign up to meet one of Hausam’s free Relocation
Specialists. This person is trained to assist the client in finding
the right community and the right vendors to make their move
quickly and free of surprises. You will also find many helpful
articles providing valuable advice on the in’s and out’s of buying or selling a home.
Not sure how much home you can afford? The site has a
wide range of mortgage calculators for you to analyze your
budget down to the pennies. And while you are at it you can
determine your payments on your next car or decide how much
you need to contribute to savings to be prepared for your kid’s
college in the year 2025.
But aside from the research capabilities of the site, its main
benefit is being able to quickly pull up thousands of homes
throughout the market. You can highlight one neighborhood or
a complete area of town for a visual tour of what is available.
Then, a detailed search allows you to describe the house you
want (number of bathrooms, bedrooms, etc.) and get a pinpointed view of the possibilities. Whether you are searching
right here in Tulsa, or in a city clear across the country, the
website provides you a detailed view of the housing market.
Hausam explained the Internet is not the only technology
40
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
being used. Customized PDA’s (Personal Digital Assistants)
allow the Realtor® to view the website fr om the neighborhood
and track detailed information, it also allows him or her controlled access to key boxes for customers showings.
When a home is listed with the company, it is photographed
and immediately placed on at least six different websites for
maximum visibility. Within minutes, marketing flyers are automatically generated and made ready for distribution.
Technology changes by the minute and brings with it a whole
new batch of opportunities. ERA John Hausam Realtors®
Associates and employees are sold on the benefits of being on
the cutting edge. It is a philosophy that is literally opening new
doors for their clients.
John Hausam and his son J.L. face the challenges of today’s changing
technology together. They have offices in Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Jenks,
Owasso and Tahlequah. Their 150-plus agents are thoroughly trained
and are among the best qualified in the business. In addition to training
their own agents, Hausam offers an 8-week program for people wanting
to enter the real estate business. The school meets on Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday evenings from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The John Hausam corporate office is located at 6550 E. 71st Street. You may reach them by
phone at 918-492-2000.
Below:
The Round Barn,
located along
Route 66 in
Arcadia, OK.
J A M E S E . TAT E
Offering to show my friend, Raymond Crawford,
the only remaining round barn in Oklahoma, we
set out from Tulsa in my antique Ford. In Sapulpa, I slowed the
aged car to cross the Burlington Northern tracks and then
turned west to drive through the old Route 66 community.
Downtown buildings, some approaching the century mark,
drew our attention, and we got a glimpse of the ornate houses
of worship gracing nearby streets.
The kitten-like purr of the flathead-six spoke pleasingly as if
it sensed the nostalgia of an old highway. After we topped a hill
and cruised down the other side, I told Raymond about Sapulpa’s 18-hole golf course as it came up on the left. “That’s where
I broke 90 the first time. Could do it again if you gave me
enough Mulligans.”
We rode through Bristow and pointed the Ford’s nose west. It
seemed eager to head for Stroud, only 22 miles away. Motoring
between Depew and Stroud we saw many sections of the old
roadway resting on the 1926 remnants winding across red dirt
fields and twisting around distant hills.
Leaving historic Stroud’s proud old brick and mortar buildings, the road continued southwest, and after seven miles
entered Davenport. The highway curved right as we left Davenport, and I eased the polished chrome grill due west—Chandler
bound.
At the edge of Chandler the road swung south at the National Guard Armory—a landmark planned for restoration. Near
downtown, a pumpless Phillips 66 service station with a locksmith sign on its cottage structure bore witness to a previous
life.
Interstate 44, so proud of its straight route, seemed to mock
us as we crossed it once again. But the hills and curves add
beauty and interest. There’s old-town history to be seen and
pondered along Route 66. After all, this was a journey into the
past.
42
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
Smelling moisture from rain clouds and listening to the tires
hammer pavement, we soon passed Wellston. It was 18 miles
later, among gnarled blackjack and dark green cedars lining the
right-of-way, we got our first glimpse of Arcadia, the town with
the famous round barn!
I parked on the shoulder of Route 66 for a photo, before
driving around to the north side of the barn. God must have
had barns in mind when he created the color red, I thought
while admiring its ruby appearance.
Eager to learn a bit of the barn’s history, we went inside. The
nostalgic icon, built in 1898 by W.H. Odor, had been neglected
for many years, and was about to collapse. Twisted native bur
oak siding flapped in the wind, and the green roof sagged from
decay. But that was before Bill and Maxine Campbell and a
dozen other Arcadians took things in hand. Beginning with a
humble $7,000 grant from the Community Foundation, they
sought other contributors for restoration funds.
The grant was expanded into enough money for master
craftsman Luke Robison and a few senior helpers to begin
restoration of the 90-year-old barn in 1988. Jigs were made to
bend the oak siding into the proper shape and work began in
earnest. The project was finished in 1992, and Luke had
admired the work until his death.
At the counter, Butch Breger told us the old barn was listed in
the National Register and was now operated by the Arcadian
Historic Society. We browsed through and asked about seeing
the second floor. Butch’s eyes narrowed, as he exclaimed,
“Sure, go on up, but I gotta tell you, a man killed himself up
there one day.”
“How’d he do that?” Raymond asked.
A big grin creased his face when he replied, “Ran himself to
death looking for a corner.”
Butch went on to tell us to check out the dance floor and test
the acoustics. The maze of braces caught my eye as we stepped
onto the spacious floor. The 60-foot perimeter displayed a
labyrinth of oak timbers spider-webbed from the floor to the
dome-shaped apex.
Glancing at the highway out of a south window, I wondered
what those barn windows had witnessed in the past century.
What stories could they tell? I’m sure they’d speak of the Los
Angeles-to-New York foot race that passed by this very place in
1928, or the thousands of cars loaded with Dust Bowl refugees
seeking a new life in California, or the World War II years as
convoys of troops traveled the Mother Road.
Arcadia is about half way between the homestead locations
of both sets of my grandparents. In 1889, traveling by covered
wagon, my grandparents, George and Sarah Florer, homesteaded 160 acres east of Stillwater, Indian Territory. Approximately
12 years later, my other grandparents, Morgan and Belle Tate,
claimed 152 acres, near Verden, Oklahoma Territory.
With time slipping away and ready to hit the road, we
returned to the lawn outside the barn and the ‘48 Ford; its wide
whitewall tires carried the antique in style, its vacuum-tube
radio spoke after warming up, its clock kept time (being zapped
periodically by the six-volt battery), and the “Four-Forty” air
conditioner worked fine—four windows down and 40 miles an
hour.
Raymond said, “That’s quite a barn. You say it’s the last
round barn in Oklahoma?”
“There are some multisided barns in the state, but this is the
only truly round barn, and it being on old Route 66 brings
viewers from everywhere.”
We rubbernecked at the stately old barn as we headed back
to Tulsa.
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NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
43
Are Kids
Worth the Risk?
Protecting our children at church.
D
o kids really belong
at church? Obviously
such a thought is ridiculous.
What would church be without
kids? But from a pure insurance,
pure potential risk point of view, it
could be argued that churches
would be wise to bar the door to
anyone under 18.
We live in a troubled world and
as much as we would like to feel
absolutely safe while inside the
walls of our church, we cannot
completely shield our families from
the world’s dangers. We also live in
a litigious society and churches have
large liability exposure where kids
are concerned.
Mike Tedford of Tedford Insurance commented on the dangers and
the liability risks that occur when
children are in the church building.
“While I know kids and youth
programs are exciting and every
church has these within their organization, it is also necessary to recognize the risks. Sponsoring kids and
44
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
youth activities can result in major
lawsuits from negligence or abuse.
Such lawsuits might come from serious injuries during a simple youth
basketball or volleyball game. Or,
they might come through allegations we have heard so much about
on the news, sexual misconduct by
Church pastors or volunteers. In
any case, it is up to the church
administration to set the right policies and up to us as members to
provide watchful eyes in taking
every precaution to protect our children.”
Below is a list of recommendations that can help minimize and
reduce the risk that is associated
with kids and youth activities. Following these simple steps can help
in providing a safe program as well
as a fun program:
• Establish written guidelines
for youth activities, and carefully
monitor and supervise all events.
• Require that all activities
must be pre-approved by a certain group in your organization.
• Implement an application and
acceptance process for selecting
youth leaders and volunteers.
• Conduct background checks
and proper screening on leaders
and volunteers that will work
with children.
• Train leaders and volunteers
on safe transportation of youth,
and develop a written transportation policy including driver
qualification requirements.
• Require an appropriate ratio
of adults to youth at each event.
Two or more adults should
always be present.
• Assess potential risks of the
activity and inform leaders about
possible hazards prior to each
event.
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a visit. SAINT SIMEON’S
• Collect permission, release and medical forms
signed by parents.
• Keep records of current phone numbers to contact parents in case of an emergency.
• Inform parents in writing about all activities.
• Train and certify leaders and volunteers in a first
aid course.
• Have leaders carry cellular telephones during
events and activities.
Kids obviously do belong at church. Don’t you owe it
to them to make the church building and all its activities
safe? Pray for the safety of all, but don’t forget your
responsibility to maintain a certain amount of caution as
we watch our kids be kids.
Additional information can be found at
www.guideone.com/SafetyResources/Churches/youthindex.htm
tedfordinsurance.com • 918-299-2345
NOVEMBER 2006 COMMUNITY SPIRIT
45
good stewardship
The Charitable Pension Protection Act
R A N D Y C O W E L L , M S , L U T C F, C F P, C S A
On August 17, 2006 President Bush signed into law sweeping pension protection designed to safeguard the retirement
accounts of American retirees. In addition to offering retirees benefit pension protection, those individuals 70 1/2 years old and over
were also given special planning opportunities. Individuals 70 1/2
and older are now permitted to withdraw money from their IRA
accounts, contribute directly to a qualified charity, and not pay
income taxes on the withdrawal. That’s the good news. The not-sogood news is that there is a window of opportunity of only two tax
years, 2006 and 2007. With donation limits of $100,000 per year
per donor, this law is viewed as a boon to charities and donors
alike.
One group, those individuals that currently cannot itemize their
charitable deductions, will no doubt benefit from this legislation.
Prior to this tax reform, an individual wishing to donate money
from their IRA account would be required to pay taxes on the
withdrawal and NOT be able to claim the tax deduction on their
tax return. Now they can. A note of caution, if you are currently
taking a deduction for your charitable contributions and you make
a direct transfer to a charity, you may not take a deduction. If you
are a retiree that must take Required Minimum Distributions, there
is light at the end of the retirement income tunnel. Contributing
money directly to a qualified charity could possibly help an individual avoid taxation on their Social Security benefits and lower
46
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
NOVEMBER 2006
their overall tax burden. Not paying taxes on income can be valuable regardless of one’s tax paying status.
So what do you need to know about this new giving opportunity? Here is a snapshot of the important facts:
• Must be 70 1/2 or older
• Donations must be direct transfers to qualified charities
• Only allowed in tax years 2006 and 2007
• Limited to $100,000 per person.
• No tax deduction allowed
Paul taught the Church at Rome that paying taxes was part of
being a good citizen. We must pay taxes but I am not aware of any
scriptures instructing us to overpay them. If you are planning to
donate to a charity this year, it must be done prior to December 31,
2006. There are certain technical requirements that must be satisfied so don’t wait until the last moment. If you would like additional information concerning this article and the Pension Protection Act of 2006, you can contact me at (918) 664-0081. Always
consult your legal and/or tax adviser prior to making any financial
decision.
Randy C. Cowell is a columnist, author, and president of ACT
Financial Services, Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He can be reached
at 918-664-0081 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Randy C.
Cowell is a Registered Representative of Securities and
Advisory services offered through Hornor, Townsend & Kent,
Inc. Member of NASD/SIPC. HTK does not offer tax, legal and
credit service advice. The views expressed are not necessarily those of HTK.
ACT Financial Services, Inc. is not affiliated with HTK.
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100,000 Mile Limited Warranty*
Coverage includes: Engine, Transmission, Drive Axle
(including Seals and Gaskets, Taxes and Fluids).
Some of the most expensive repairs you might face!
•
Free Replacement Tires*
You have to service your vehicle somewhere. Simply return
to our service department to perform all of your factory
recommended service and we’ll replace your tires for free!
•
Break the Negative Equity Cycle*
Our proven Trade Cycle Management Program empowers you
to drive this next vehicle until its easy and affordable to trade.
You may never have to be upside down again!
•
72 Hour Exchange Policy*
•
•
Best Value Guarantee*
Towing Reimbursement*
Reimbursement for towing if needed for a covered repair.
Ask your salesperson for more details.
* Benefits may vary to conform with the laws of your state. Ask the dealer for details.
“Cancer Treatment Centers of America
did what no other hospital would do
for me. They listened.”
— Beth Moksu
Thyroid and Breast Cancer Survivor
B
eth knew something was wrong, yet her hometown doctor
insisted it was nothing. Only by demanding a second
opinion did Beth discover she had thyroid cancer. Her thyroid
was removed but soon after, she was diagnosed with breast
cancer. Beth was told she didn’t have long to live, and she felt
things were spinning out of control.
Then her friend came across the website for Cancer Treatment
Centers of America (CTCA). After she talked to doctors at
CTCA, Beth “fired” her hometown doctor. As soon as she
arrived at CTCA, Beth noticed something very different: the
doctors listened to her.
With her integrated team of physicians, Beth
explored her options, including an innovative form
of internal beam radiation. Beth decided on a
No case is typical. You should not expect to experience these results.
treatment plan with a full array of options that included
chemotherapy, nutrition, radiation and mind-body medicine.
Beth’s determination to survive and search for CTCA helped to
give her a second chance at life.
As inspirational as Beth’s story is, there are others. Many patients
have discovered that hope and compassion live at CTCA.
If you or someone you know is suffering from cancer, we urge
you to call one of our Oncology Information Specialists today.
They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to discuss the
treatment options available at CTCA.
Please call for free information today.
1-800-227-3448, or visit
cancercenter.com